Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,224 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $86,000. Finally, Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $87,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2 %

MSFT stock opened at $452.85 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $456.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $422.18 and its 200 day moving average is $408.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The firm had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.86 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $489.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $467.12.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.